Archives and Manuscript Collections
Records of the Herbarium (RG 4)
DONALD P. ROGERS RECORDS (1947-1957)
2.6 lf. (4 boxes)
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
Donald
P. Rogers (1908- ), a cryptogamic botanist and mycologist, served as Curator
of the Cryptogamic Herbarium from 1947 to 1957. He specialized in the study
of the toxicology and morphology of Basidiomycetes with a particular interest
in Thelephoraceae. Dr. Rogers was an active member of the Mycological Society
of America and served as managing editor of the journal Mycologia.
Dr. Rogers was born in 1908 in Toledo, Ohio. He received his B.A. from
Oberlin College in 1929, his M.A. in 1930 from the University of Nebraska,
and his Ph.D. in 1935 from the University of Iowa.
Dr. Rogers began his career as an Assistant in Botany at the University
of Nebraska from 1929 to 1930 and a Graduate Assistant in Botany from 1931
to 1935 at the University of Iowa. He studied at Harvard University in
1936 as a National Research Fellow and took a position as Instructor in
Botany at Oregon State College from 1936 to 1940. He moved to Brown University
as an Instructor in Botany from 1941 to 1942 and went to American International
College to serve as Associate Professor of Biology from 1942 to 1945. In
1945 he received a scholarship, which brought him to The New York Botanical
Garden to study. Later that same year he accepted a position as Assistant
Professor of Botany at the University of Hawaii. He left the University
of Hawaii in 1947 to return to the Garden, then in 1957 he left the Garden
to become Professor of Botany at the University of Illinois.
SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE
This collection consists mostly of correspondence. It covers Dr. Rogers'
ten-year career at The New York Botanical Garden, as well as his editorship
of Mycologia and his activities in the Mycological Society of America
during this period.
SERIES DESCRIPTIONS
Series 1: Personal Correspondence
Series 2: Subject Correspondence
Series 1 Personal Correspondence
25 lin. in. Arranged alphabetically.
Important correspondents include E. B. Bartram, Howard A. Crum, R. W.
G. Dennis, Margaret Fulford, L. R. Hesler, C. W. Hesseltine, Josiah L.
Lowe, Harold St. John, Fred Jay Seaver, Alexander H. Smith, John A. Stevenson,
William Randolph Taylor, R. Gordon Wasson, and Richard D. Wood
Series 2 Subject Correspondence
5 lin. in. Arranged alphabetically.
Dr. Rogers was appointed member of a committee that was formed to create
an exhibit on the history of botany in New York City for the Columbia University
Bicentennial celebrations. There is also a file on the New York Botanical
Garden exhibit on the Brittons. He was a member of the New York Botanical
Garden Library Committee, and a consultant for National Geographic,
Life magazine, and the Boy Scouts. His correspondence with institutions
in Czechoslovakia, India, and Indonesia are kept in this series, along
with National Science Foundation grant applications and research notes.
He was frequently asked questions concerning truffles in America, upon
which he wrote. A file entitled "Location of Type Specimens" is an alphabetical
list of botanists and the institutions which hold their type specimens.
RELATED COLLECTIONS
The New York Botanical Garden
RA Mycological Society of America
Processed February 2000 by Stephen Sinon under a grant
from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) PA-23141-98 and a
grant from the Harriet Ford Dickenson Foundation.
For more information and a complete description contact:
Susan Fraser, NYBG
Archivist
The LuEsther T. Mertz Library
The New York Botanical Garden
Bronx, NY 10458-5126
(718) 817-8879
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